(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a solar cell and a manufacturing method thereof.
(b) Description of the Related Art
A solar cell converts solar energy, or other types of electromagnetic radiation, to electrical energy. A solar cell is typically a diode formed of a PN junction, and the typical solar cell may be classified into various types according to a material used to form a light absorbing layer of the solar cell.
A solar cell that uses silicon as a light absorbing layer may be classified as a crystalline substrate (wafer) type of solar cell or a thin film (crystalline, amorphous) type of solar cell. Also, a representative solar cell may be classified as a compound thin film solar cell using CuInGaSe2 (“CIGS”) or CdTe, a group III-V solar cell, a dye response solar cell, and an organic solar cell.
The typical solar cell has a uniform open circuit voltage (“Voc”) regardless of the size of the solar cell, such that a plurality of unit cells are patterned to be connected in series to each other to obtain a desired voltage when manufacturing the solar cell module. However, in this patterning process, layer damage may be generated or pattern deterioration may be generated due to the generation of a remaining layer on the side thereof such that photoelectric conversion efficiency of the solar cell may be reduced.